The Elements and The Power Behind Them

The Elements refer to the spiritual elements that affect your life in the Wiccan religion. One might also refer to them as the forces to be honored. There are five elements: Spirit, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. The Spirit element is a mystical force that cannot be categorized, and it is hard to explain. Therefore mostly only the other elements are mentioned. The elements are controlled which means finding control and balance within yourself and your life. The elements all have correspondences, but the correspondences are not fixed; they can vary from one person to another or tradition to tradition.

Air

Air governs our thoughts, and thus it becomes the first element to acknowledge. Thoughts come before action. The alchemical symbol for air is a triangle crossed by a line. The Air element is a masculine element that carries the positive charge. Its energy is active and possesses the aspects of rational thinking, analytical thoughts and communication. The Air element has both positive and negative attributes. The Air positive attributes include: logical, rational, intelligent, communicative, inquisitive and idealist. The negative attributes include: indecisive, unfocused, untrustworthy, aloof and deceptive.

The air element is aligned with:

Time of Day: night

Time of Year: winter

Day of Week: Wednesday

Time of Life: death through rebirth

Direction: north

The Air element rules over the body functions such as breathing, thinking, singing, coughing, whistling and speaking, because it rules over the nervous system, brains, and lungs. Air takes the direction of north and the color yellow represents it.

Fire

Fire stands for our will and passions. After thinking, we then put our actions into motion. Fire corresponds to the season of summer, and the sun represents it. Fire element is a masculine element that has positive charge and active energy. The Fire personalities have qualities such as energetic, purifying, transformative. Fire personalities are spontaneous, courageous, passionate and enthusiastic. Some of the negative attributes of fire personalities include: hot-tempered, angry, domineering, impatient and overwhelming.

The fire element is aligned with:

Time of Day: midday

Time of Year: summer

Day of Week: Sunday, Tuesday

Time of Life: young adulthood

Locations: volcanoes, deserts

Direction: south

Fire rules the south, and it is associated with several deities such as Thor, Apollo, Hestia, and Sekhmet. The Wiccan tools used on an altar to represent fire are wands, candles or any fires.

Water

Water is the third element, and it affects the subconscious, emotions and dreams. Once one has a thought and then put passion behind the action, the next step is to bring in the emotions so as to strengthen the eagerness to actualize the thoughts. The Water element is a feminine element that is symbolized by the womb. It has negative charge and possesses passive energy. Its alchemical symbol is an upside-down triangle. Water personalities are compassionate, flexible, resourceful, sensitive, understanding and intuitive. The aspects of the Water element include: cleansing, formless and deep.

It is aligned with:

Time of Day: sunset

Time of Year: autumn

Day of Week: Monday, Friday

Time of Life: maturity

Locations: any water body

Direction: west

The Water element rules over the womb and bodily fluids such as saliva, blood, sweat and urine. The bodily functions that it rules over include: drinking, lactating, perspiring, secretion and urinating. The occupations that are ruled over by the Water element include: fishing, bartender, sailors, surfers, swimmers and marine biologists. It is best represented by the colors silver, blue and aquamarine. The deities to honor for the Water element include the Muses, Dagon, Venus, Lady of the Lake and Oceanus. The Wiccan tools one can place on the altar for Water are bowls, cup and cauldron.

Earth

It is the final physical element, and it stands for our actions. It stands for wisdom gained through experiences. It is feminine and has a negative charge, and the element possesses passive energy. The qualities of the Earth element include: solid, heavy, cold and physical matter. Earth personalities are ambitious, diligent, earthy, reliable and steady. The negative attributes of Earth are dull, possessive, slow, unforgiving and inhibited.

It is aligned with:

Time of Day: morning

Time of Year: spring

Day of Week: Thursday, Saturday

Time of Life: youth

Locations: caverns, plains, the underworld

Direction: east

The colors that represent Earth are green, brown, earth tones and black. It governs businesses, loyalty, money and anything that is connected to the physical body and health. Places associated with the Earth element are a cave, which is a symbol for shelter, forests and valleys. The Earth rules over bones and physical self. Occupations that the Earth energy rules over include: banking, construction, childcare, stone masons, dancing and administrative work. The Wiccan tools to place on an altar in preparation for a casting are a pentacle and concentrated salt. The deities that are honored in the Earth element include Demeter, Dagda, Green man, Hades, and Adonis.

Conclusion

All the elements need to be balanced. An excess of a certain element, for example Earth, slows things down, and progress is also slowed. Too little of the Earth element causes lack of energy to dare or take risks.